🚀 go-pugleaf

In <1992Sep12.031058.15649@mercury.cair.du.edu> elesatz@diana.cair.du.edu (Eric LeSatz) writes:

>In article <1992Sep11.230902.13800@mercury.cair.du.edu> jvilhube@diana.cair.du.edu (Jan Vilhuber) writes:

>As far as the consultant thing, I apologize to the net for my
>uniformed comments, but it sounds all too typical of the computer
>"expert" consultant coming in and telling the executives about all
>this special equipment they need and a special program they will write
>to make it easy to use. I could be wrong, but couldn't practically any
>minicomputer with a decent CPU run a phone number database...and one
>that could be set up in a couple of days??

Item 1)  The RMN tried an experiment with an on-line service sort of
Prodigy-like, which had all the right buzzwords to it, even to techies:
Graphics (actually very good graphics, much better than Prodigy's),
Unix based, blah-blah-blah.  BUT the company who did it (and then got
the RMN to go with them with an on-line edition) was filled with bozos
(the fellow who'd written the only decent part had left the company
on unfriendly terms) who managed to thoroughly mess it up.

My point?  It is *extremely* hard to do an on-line service well.
Yet you'll find *lots* of people who'll take your money and do one for you.

Item 2)  Just saw an add for a cd-rom set, $180 I think, that had
"all the US phone books" on them, white and yellow pages.  Sure they
get outdated, but draw your own conclusions about how well a videotex
based interface to the same data will fly...

>And Jan...yes, I would use your system for $.15 a minute...assuming
>that I don't have to wade through 5 menus (or be forced to read 10
>pages of directions) to type in the search key.

For simple directory lookups, I might too, if it takes less time to
look up than using a paper phone book.  [Including time to get to
the directory: walking to the shelf vs. turning on machine, running
program, dialing...]

BUT: that's still $9/hr, and if it turns into an awesome full
featured on-line service, with netnews's successor, all the features of
the internet, etc. -- I won't be able to afford it.  If one uses it
a measely hour a day, that's over $3,000 a year.  :-(
-- 

Andrew Burt 		   					  aburt@du.edu

      "And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped"